The first morning of the new year brought a wave of excitement to Sylhet’s schools as students received their brand-new textbooks. From early morning, school premises across the city began filling with cheerful faces. Children hugged their colourful new books to their chests, some flipping through the pages with sheer delight.
A visit to several government and non-government schools on Thursday (January 1) showed the same lively scene everywhere—students arriving with their parents, waiting eagerly as teachers verified result sheets and handed over the new textbooks.
This year, 5,885,023 books are being distributed among 1.63 million primary students across four districts of the Sylhet division. These include students from pre-primary to class five, with specific allocations for each grade.
However, unlike previous years, there is no central “Book Festival” this time. Instead, books are being distributed internally at schools, said Abu Sayeed Md Abdul Wadud, Sylhet divisional deputy director of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education.
For primary students, all required books have already reached their respective upazilas—over 5.8 million in total, including more than 72,000 English version books. But the situation is not fully smooth for secondary, madrasa, and vocational levels.
Out of the demand for over 13.2 million books for more than 1.2 million students, around 9.6 million have reached so far—roughly 69 percent. This means nearly 31 percent of students are still waiting for their full set of books.
Still, the excitement among many students remains high. Ninth-grader Jabir Haque from Sylhet’s suburbs said, “I’m really happy with the new books. I can’t wait to get home and start reading them!”
Education Ministry spokesperson Khalid Mahmud confirmed that although there is no festival this year, schools have been instructed to ensure book distribution across all institutions from January 1.